Gallup: Fewer Believe Income Taxes Are Fair

Fewer people believe their income taxes are fair than at any point since 2001, according to Gallup's annual Economy and Personal Finance Poll released Monday.

The poll of 1,005 adults conducted between April 4-7, shows that 55 percent of Americans believe the taxes they pay are fair, compared to a high of 64 percent in 2003 when then President George W. Bush signed the last major tax cut into law. Forty-Two percent of those surveyed believed their tax payments are not fair.

“The decline in Americans' belief that their taxes are fair is due mostly to Republicans' changing views,” wrote Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones.

“Taxes have been at the forefront of much of the debate over economic and budgetary policy in recent years, although, in reality, federal income taxes have not changed for most Americans since [President Barack] Obama took office, because the president has preserved the Bush-era income tax cuts for all but the highest-income Americans."

The survey also found that most Americans are pessimistic about their future taxes, with 64 percent believing the amount they pay will go up next year. Another 31 percent expect no change, and only three percent expect lower taxes.

Last year, 53 percent thought their taxes would go up.

The survey also found the view of tax fairness varies, depending on party affiliation. For example, this year 66 percent of Democrats thought their income tax was fair, while 32 percent viewed it as unfair.

Only 49 percent of Republicans thought their tax payment was fair and 48 percent said it was unfair. Fifty-one percent of independents, meanwhile, said their taxes were fair, compared to 49 percent who viewed them as unfair.